The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a motion Tuesday to authorize a letter to take action against the environmental damage and public safety issues related to marijuana "trespass grows."

The letter was addressed to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which establishes sentencing policies for courts, advises Congress on crime policies, and collects data and information of federal crime and sentencing issues, according to county spokesman Sean Quincey.

"This letter looks at trespassing and marijuana grows," said 5th District Supervisor Ryan Sundberg. "With sentencing laws so low, I think we need laws with more teeth."

Second District Supervisor Estelle Fennell said people have been trespassing and growing on state and national lands with a marked lack of respect.

"My hope is that whatever enhancement the Sentencing Commission comes up with, it will enforce the law," Fennell said. "The issue here is about enhancing the law. For example, if you have a gun while committing a felony, then you get charged with committing a felony and get sentenced, but that sentence is stronger with the additional charge of having the gun."

During public comment, Daniel Pierce said he believed the letter was akin to throwing out the baby with the bath water and cited Colorado as an example of legalizing marijuana.

"You're talking about the devastation that grows cause instead of bringing people here to smoke and make money for the county," Pierce said. "This is a world religion of smoking hash. You shouldn't be limiting the number of plants a person can have to five."

Sundberg said the letter was not about limiting the number of plants but about trespassing.

"This only has to do with trespassing on people's property -- whether it's about corn or marijuana, it's not OK," Sundberg said.

In addition to the letter, the board unanimously passed a motion to move discussion on campaign finance reform forward and allow more time to gather more information.

First District Supervisor Rex Bohn said he brought the reform forward because it periodically comes up and is important. Using a Sonoma County ordinance as a reference, County Counsel Wendy Chaitin said the staff found it to be within legal standards and something the county could move forward with if desired.

Fourth District Supervisor Virginia Bass said she was confused on how an election cycle is defined in relation to the amount of contributions allowed per year.

"Election cycle is based on the office and the amounts are per cycle, with cycles running the length of preliminary elections," Deputy County Counsel Blair Angus said. "My recommendation would be to look at voluntary spending caps. Some counties set a dollar amount and others set a per capita rate -- that's a specific example of a voluntary spending cap."

Bass said she would bet people in the counties with the voluntary cap have broken it with no recourse.

"Just because it's voluntary doesn't mean people have to abide by it," Bass said.

Fennell said she thinks the voluntary cap would limit people's free speech.

"If someone has $20 they want to donate they can't because you (the candidate) have reached the limit," she said. "One thing we could do, looking outside the box, is voluntary per capita spending and say, 'I'm not going to take more than so much per capita.'"

Third District Supervisor Mark Lovelace said that there were different ways to approach this, but that there was not necessarily going to be one right way.

Sundberg requested more time to go over the information from the meeting, and the discussion was moved forward until the supervisors are able to gather more information and public comment.